I just started playing Arena. what is the max level? Couldn't find any info after a search.

There is no level cap in Arena. Levelling works this way (the example below is for a warrior):

level 1 - 0 exp
level 2 - 900 exp
level 3 - 1,687 exp
level 4 - 3,164 exp
level 5 - 5,932 exp
level 6 - 11,123 exp
level 7 - 20,856 exp
level 8 - 39,106 exp
level 9 - 73,324 exp
level 10 - 137,484 exp

For each level after 10th, multiply the experience points by 1,5. For example, a warrior will need (137 484 x 1,5) or 206 226 exp for 11th level, (206 226 x 1,5) or 309 339 exp for 12th level, etc...

What happens when the experience requirements get too big to fit in the variable? (Assuming a 32-bit integer, this would happen at over 2 billion if signed or over 4 billion if unsigned.) Does the game not let you level any further, or does the game keep leveling you until you softlock from having no more stat bonus points to assign? (At least I read somewhere the game softlocks; haven't tried testing it.)

Anyway, a more realistic answer to the question is that you will probably end up around, or at least close to, level 20 by the end of the game.

(Note that the final dungeon, which can't be revisited after clearing, is a good place to level up because the final floor has multiples of the most XP rewarding monster in the game. At extremely high levels, random humanoid enemies might eventually be worth more, however.)

A warrior needs 7 928 020 exp to reach level 20. A patient player playing a warrior or a thief could attain level 21 and a very patient one could even attain level 22 but I agree, most players should reach level 20 or less.
However, the fact is that the game itself does not restrain levelling.

As for the experience requirements getting too big to fit in the variable, I think that it's limited first and foremost by the player's patience, as I do not think that a single player on earth ever managed to gather 2 or 4 billions experience points.

At least, I know I could never do it.

I know this post is old, but I figured I would add what I have found. I'm using a saved game editor (arenaed) to see if there is a level cap. I plotted the EXP tables on a spreadsheet and took them out to lvl 50, just too see what would look like. The formula listed above (1.5x previous EXP level above Lvl 10) breaks down beyond Lvl 26 for a battlemage. I haven't tried the other class types yet. Going from Lvl 26 to a theoretical Lvl 27 caused me to jump to Lvl 38.

Lvl 01: 0
Lvl 02: 1,200
Lvl 03: 2,250
Lvl 04: 4,218
Lvl 05: 7,910
Lvl 06: 14,831
Lvl 07: 27,809
Lvl 08: 52,142
Lvl 09: 97,766
Lvl 10: 183,312
Lvl 11: 274,968
Lvl 12: 412,452
Lvl 13: 618,678
Lvl 14: 928,017
Lvl 15: 1,392,026
Lvl 16: 2,088,038
Lvl 17: 3,132,057
Lvl 18: 4,698,086
Lvl 19: 7,047,129
Lvl 20: 10,570,694
Lvl 21: 15,856,040
Lvl 22: 23,784,061
Lvl 23: 35,676,091
Lvl 24: 53,514,137
Lvl 25: 80,271,205
Lvl 26: 120,406,807
????????????????
Lvl 38: 180,610,211

The 12 skipped levels calculate out to an average of 5,016,950.3333 each, but I haven't been able to level up beyond 38 just by tweaking EXP.

It appears that earning EXP at a point at or above the target level does not trigger a retroactive level up. You have to earn the EXP that pushes you into the next level. I've tried a number of EXP point spots above 180,610,211, but I have not been able to find the trigger that will allow me to level beyond 38. If I recall, I had this problem 20 years ago when I was playing with a different save game editor (arenaedt). I couldn't get beyond 38 as a battlemage.

Based on what I have collected so far, there appears to be a hard cap at 38. I've tried numerous calculated level up points, even up into the bilions, but I have not been able to trigger a level up beyond 38.

XP requirements, as I have said, scale by a factor of 1.5 for each level past 10. To reach level 38 should, in theory, require just over 85222 times as much XP as reaching level 10; it's worth noting that this value does not fit in a 16-bit integer. Perhaps the game gets confused at this point?

With that said, the game does not appear to truncate the value in the middle of the calculation; I calculated the ratio between level 10 and 26 XP by the 1.5 rule and by dividing the XXP totals you posted, and the results agreed to 5 decimal places.

Also, reaching level 38 ought to require 5,005,216,975 XP, which is too large to fit into a 32-bit integer (710,249,679 is the value that would be stored here); this is right past when an overflow would occur. Maybe faster leveling classes can gain one more level?

I suggest trying this with a Thief, which is the fastest leveling class, and see if you get similar results. (It's clear that there is some bug here that a typical player would not ordinarily encounter.)

Hi there,

this post interests me coz I find myself on and off returning to Arena.

Anyways, here is what I always wondered, and it is the maximum level possible. If you actually play thru (must be crazy...) to get to very high levels like 40 and above, can that happen?

My question is because I was always curious about characters that get a % per level to some skills (critical strike and dodge). For instance an Assassin at level 30 would have 90% critical strike chance (30 x 3%...), a Monk would have 45% critical and some dodge (do not know the formula if it is 30 x 1% per level, anybody`?).

Also, it bugs me that melee-killing Liches and vampires net you ZERO experience (I think with Trolls and ghos too) coz you have to kill them with magic...?

Thanks!